Men’s Basketball: North District Championship Preview

Men’s Basketball: North District Championship Preview
March 6, 2023

The Central Community College men's basketball team will host Dakota County (Minn.) Technical College in the NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball North District Playoff at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The Raiders earned the right to host the district playoff with a 72-60 win at Southeast Community College in the Region 9 title game on Saturday. The Blue Knights won the Region 13 championship on Sunday with a 76-73 overtime victory against United Tribes Technical College. The teams are familiar foes in the district playoff, having met in 2022, 2020, 2018 and 2017, with DCTC winning each time.

CCC is 21-9 and has won five consecutive games. Trey Deveaux is the scoring leader with 18.8 points per contest while Derek Merwick is averaging 12.6 points. Merwick leads the team in rebounds (7.0), steals (3.4) and assists (5.2). Jayden Byabato is also averaging double-digit scoring with 11.2 points per game.

"The guys have really come together and played well down the stretch and it's awesome to see them play well when the games matter most." said CCC head coach John Ritzdorf. "It has been an entire team effort lately with different guys stepping up, and I think our balance is what makes us really tough to guard."

DCTC is 15-11 and Josh Ward is the team's scoring leader with 13.3 points per game. Keenan Jones averages 12.6 points while Dontray Johnson scores 11.0 points. Ousseynou Ngom is the leading rebounder for the Blue Knights at 6.2 boards per game and he's blocked a team-best 55 shots.

"We've played Dakota County Tech in two of the last three district championships, and they are always tough, physical and well coached," Ritzdorf said. "They always seem to play their best late in the season and that has definitely been the case yet again. This year, they are very balanced offensively and have been guarding at a high level as well. I expect a very close, competitive game on Saturday."

Admission for Saturday's district playoff at the Raider Fieldhouse is $6 for adults and $4 for children.